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Forum:Plurality of Page Names
So there's been a bit of discussion recently on the subject of the plurality of the Howling Stones page name, which prompted the question of the number (singular vs. plural) of page names in general. Supposedly the rule is that if the game features a finite amount of a given object/character, its page name is plural; if its quantity is unlimited, the page name is singular. However, there is a slew of discrepancies to this rule (Gossip Stones, treasure charts, & Poe Souls, to name a few), & so it was suggested that this naming convention be discussed before a large number of pages were renamed. So what do people think of this convention? Does anyone know what the logic was behind it originally? I personally find it confusing, especially for newer users—the vast majority of page names here are singular, & the whole "finite number" thing has no intuitive correlation to a plural page name. As such, I definitely suggest making the currently plural ones singular, rather than the other way around; although in the end, the most important thing is simply to have consistency, one way or another. Knives182 (talk) 03:49, June 20, 2011 (UTC) *Howling Stone (The name of this is in plural form). *Gossip Stone, Sheikah Stone, Owl Statue, Song Stone (This are in singular form). *Light Spirits, (Again plural). *Human. Zora, Hylian, etcetera. (Are in singular). *Spirit Tracks (Plural) *Oracles (Plural) *Magic Bean (Singular) *Knights of Hyrule (Plural, but this refers to a group…) *Mask (It refers to a various mask throughout the series). *Sword (It refers to a various swords throughout the series). *Tunic (It refers to a various tunics throughout the series). *Great Fairy's Tears (Don't remember well but this item is named as plural always during the game, this could be an exception to the rule). *Spiritual Stones (Another exception?) This are just a few, but independently of any decision made is obvious that in some cases we'll have to treat with each specific case. Additionally if any convention is made a good article for name titles convention would be nice. --TheNewSheik (talk) 05:02, June 20, 2011 (UTC) Wait. Anyway, I'm pretty sure there was initially a good reason to pluralize article names, not that I can recall what it was. I don't really have a good argument against every article being in singular form, but you seem to have missed the point a little bit here. "Tunics" for instance, can never be pluralized because it's not a finite number (that is, not until 2012 and the end of the world, and consequently, creation of new game installments; unfortunately, we'll all be too dead/rapturized to be able to do anything about it). Wish I could remember the good argument for page name pluralization though. --AuronKaizer ' 17:26, June 25, 2011 (UTC) I think that for things that have a reasonably finite amount, are plural in-game, and/or refer to a group should be kept as plural. Otherwise, they should be kept singular. Like Spiritual Stones, for example; there are only 3 in the game ''and they're referred to as such. Spirit Tracks wouldn't really make sense as singular, but I think that's common sense. Howling Stones should be Howling Stone. Light Spirits should stay because there are only like 4 of them.—Triforce' ' 14' 19:09, June 25, 2011 (UTC) :I think the second and third criteria are more important than the first, after further thought. One thing to consider would be how often would the things in question be referred to as a whole? Using the Howling Stones example, I think more often than not, someone would refer to a specific one rather than them as a group, so it'd be better as a singular page.—'Triforce' ' 14' 19:13, June 25, 2011 (UTC) ::I'm in agreement with Triforce here; Howling Stone makes more sense because people will likely tend to refer to one as opposed to the entire group, while things such as Spiritual Stones and Light Spirits should stay due to the reasonably finite amount. Things like Spirit Tracks should stay plural because as he said that's common sense; but yeah, that's just my two Rupees cents. -'Minish Link' 19:21, June 25, 2011 (UTC) :Yeah, something like that. The spiritual stones are almost a 'group' of their own though. The problem you described could be solved by just saying "...the first of the Spiritual Stones..." In general, plurality should be kept for in-game namings, groups, and small-number, distinct item collections.—'Triforce' ' 14' 02:24, June 26, 2011 (UTC) ::I agree w/ Triforce's plurality requirements of "in-game namings, groups, and ''small-number, distinct item collections." Knives182 (talk) 03:54, June 26, 2011 (UTC) :::Here is another thing generally done: When bosses/mini-bosses appear in numbers during the boss battle, such as Lanmolas and Dodongo Snakes, the page is plural. If they appear more than once in the game, but appear alone in their main battles, such as Gleeok, it is singular. --EveryDayJoe45 (talk) 04:13, June 26, 2011 (UTC) ::::Makes sense. Knives182 (talk) 05:11, June 26, 2011 (UTC) I agree, with and with EveryDayJoe and Triforce too. All this conclusions we have developed seem to be coherent with the wikia, because it seems that every article is following this norms, except for the Howling Stones. So I will change the Howling Stones to Howling Stone for now. Additionally, we have tried to write the rules for the wikia for some time, this criterias should be added to it, unless there is something more left to say. —'TheNewSheik' 18:43, June 26, 2011 (UTC) We should probably have an admin move the pages so that we can avoid redirects. --Jäzzi(Talk) 18:47, June 26, 2011 (UTC) Well… I started already, but that's a good idea. --—'TheNewSheik' 18:51, June 26, 2011 (UTC) :That's why I mentioned it, since there'll be redirects (which just got caught) to deal with, then most likely the deletion of the redirect from the move. Don't worry about it at all. It's not like you moved a giant page. --Jäzzi(Talk) 18:59, June 26, 2011 (UTC) That's what I though, I will remember for the next time. do you know if there is a way to search for the redirects of a page? I'm using the usual search. Also I see you're helping too with the redirects, thanks! --—'TheNewSheik' 19:07, June 26, 2011 (UTC) :I use , with the page name, and it helps quite a bit. --Jäzzi(Talk) 19:10, June 26, 2011 (UTC) ::Good to know thx. —'TheNewSheik' 19:21, June 26, 2011 (UTC)